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Hello loyal followers! By popular request, this month’s blog is all about how to make a frame for your silk painting. This particular frame design is made from wood and has no glass or plexiglass in it to cover up the silk. Many people love this design because they can still touch the silk and fully enjoy its shine and texture. Continue reading →

This series is a new and improved version of my April 2013 video blog, “Using a Vertical Steamer to Steam Your Silk Paintings.” There are some new tips and additional info for you, as well as better video and sound quality.

Yesterday I found some dyes that I bought five years ago. Before throwing them out I decided to try a test to see if, by some miracle, any of them were still useable. Surprisingly, several of them were absolutely fine! I’ll show you how to test any dyes you have in question, and give you the results of my test down at the end of this blog post. Continue reading →

If you’re thinking about turning a part of your home into a space dedicated to silk painting, this tour of my humble little studio might give you some ideas. If you already have a silk-painting space that you love, send us a picture or comment on your ideas. Pour a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and come on in!

Here two paintings have common design elements that need to match up when they’re displayed side-by-side.

Sometimes you may want to create two or more silk paintings that have a design that flows from one painting to the next. You’d want to hang them close to each other on a wall, so the design would need to match up where the two paintings meet. So… how do you accomplish that? This four-minute video will show you how.

There are many ways to stretch a scarf for silk painting. The object is to gently stretch it taut into a frame and lay it flat. That will give it stability while you work and keep it from sagging and touching your table top. The dye will be able to penetrate underneath the clips so you’ll have even dyeing all around the edges, and the scarf won’t touch the stretcher bars so no dye gets transferred.

What the heck is “gutta” anyway? In short, it’s a resin-based product with a funny name that is used to create a barrier for dyes in silk painting. There are other types of products that are not resin-based, but those are not technically known as “gutta”. They’d be known as “resists”. But let’s not get confused… let’s talk about GUTTA. Continue reading →